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Providing a Wide Variety of Enemies - Keeps the Player Engaged in Combat Scenarios
Some combat-focused games only possess one or two types of regular enemies. This lack of variety has the potential to make conflict repetitive. In many cases, the player is able to rid themselves of all present enemies in the same fashion. The enemies themselves demand no growth in the player’s understanding of the verbs available to them. One way to keep the play from becoming monotonous in these types of games is to introduce a wider variety of enemies. If the design of these enemies demands that the player handle each of them in different ways, it will create variation in the gameplay. This will have the added effect of keeping the player more engaged, as they must now pay attention to how they are approaching each enemy in combative situations. Examples: One example of a game with a wide variety of enemies is Mass Effect 3. Lower level, run-of-the-mill types of enemies are often mixed in with a range of stronger enemies. One example of this would be the Reaper ground forces, where the weaker husks and stronger banshees coexist on the same field. This wide variety of enemies demands the player’s full attention when they are all placed in this space. The player must now consider which options will lead to less resistance as they push forward, as different enemies should be approached in different ways. Resident Evil 4 There are a lot of different enemies in Resident Evil 4 that the player must combat and adjust their play style to defeat. The player begins the game fighting the normal villager enemies, but as the game goes on the enemies grow stronger and gain new weapons like crossbows or chainsaws. These enemies will sometimes all appear at the same time, leading the player to adjust the way the play. There are also other enemies in the game like the Garrador that are blind so the player must lead the Garrador using sound to defeat them. Another enemy the player combats is the Regenerator, an enemy that regenerates its body parts when attacked, seemingly being invincible. Once the player finds a special infrared scope, the player can use it to find hidden weak spots on the Regenerator that when shot will actually kill the enemy. All of these different enemies and more make the player have to constantly adjust their play style as they go through the game. The Last of Us While the differences in enemies are more subtle in this particular example, they are still very important. Within the world of The Last of Us (a post-apocalyptic survival horror game) there are multiple different kinds of "infected" people. While there are some that lean closer to the standard zombie, there are others that require entirely different strategy. A "bloater", for example, is a massive creature which can take more damage as well as hit with ranged attacks, whereas a "clicker" is blind but has acute hearing, requiring the player to mislead the creature by using sound. The appearance of these varied monsters within a level completely alter the chemistry of each scene and require the player to think strategically.